Pakistan: Pregnant Christian Maid Tortured

Pakistan: Pregnant Christian Maid Tortured

Salma Emmanuel, 30, a pregnant Christian housemaid, was admitted to a local hospital in critical condition after being tortured during a police interrogation in Abbottabad, Pakistan, the military town where Osama bin Laden was killed in May, ASSIST News Service reports. Emmanuel said she was punched, kicked and beaten with canes by three female police officers after being falsely accused of stealing from her employer, but the deputy superintendent of police rejected the allegations. However, the doctor on duty at the hospital confirmed that Emmanuel's body bore marks of torture and that her fetus was also in danger due to her condition. Two Pakistan-based human rights organizations said in a joint statement: "Once again the 'influentials' in society have used their influence against the weak and overpowered the law. ... The Christian domestic workers are raped, kidnapped, tortured and killed, yet the authorities claim that the minorities are given equal rights."